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Sealing the Rift
24, Last Seed 90AN Exploring the dark corridors of the dungeon, the party finds themselves in a room lined with menacing stone sarcophagi. Sensing something dire, Relic and Ivgaar smash one of the coffins open to find it empty. However, when the party tries to move further into the room to investigate, the sarcophagi begin to magically disgorge a seemingly endless supply of animated skeletons. When it seems that the party might be overwhelmed, the party pushes deeper into the room and discovers two altars and a shrine to Bahamut, the platinum dragon. In an act of desperation, Eben places a gold piece upon a shrine in tithe. A golden light suffuses the room and the skeletons retreat back into their coffins. It is here that the adventurers locate the final resting place of Sir Keegan, who's remains awaken to challenge the party. The group quickly realize that Sir Keegan is also trying to prevent the rift from opening and are able to convince him of their good intentions. While he is unable to leave the confines of his crypt, Keegan gives Quinn a parting gift in hopes that it will help on their quest: Aecris, his holy weapon. The group ventures to the lower level of the dungeon and find that the dungeon is guarded by a contingent of hobgoblins. Though they provide the correct password, the party is unable to convince the guards that they belong in the dungeon and are soon forced to take the lower level by force. Pausing only to rest once they find themselves exhausted, the heroes overcome magical traps, ooze, and a veritable legion of undead and finally reach the Cathedral of Shadows. The heroes find themselves facing Kalarel's final lines of defense, including a vampiric necromancer and his spawn and members his most devout clergy. After several very close calls and the startling discovery of Douven Staul, the party descends into a nightmare for the final encounter with Kalarel.... The party find themselves immediately beset by Kalarel and his undead minions as the ritual that is opening the rift to the shadowfell nears completion. A dark and malign entity strains at the fabric of reality, trying to force its way into the material plane, while attempting to lure the adventurers to their deaths with images of their deepest desires. Though the heroes' attempts to reverse the ritual through arcane and divine magic outright fail, they persevere and eventually strike Kalarel with a mortal blow. With the source of dark magic fueling the ritual gone, the rift implodes on itself, but not before the entity from beyond pulls Kalarel kicking and screaming into the Shadowfell.... Kalarel has been defeated and the rift is closed! The heroes have managed to overcome the trials of the Shadowfell keep and have prevented a fanatic from releasing an unspeakable horror upon Winterhaven and the rest of the Nentir vale. Before returning to Winterhaven, the party pay one last visit to the Spectre of Sir Keegan and return to him some of his children's artifacts, which were found during the adventure. Keegan, grateful for the return of the mementos of his lost children, rewards the party with seven platinum pieces, a veritable fortune! The heroes, after short deliberation of what to do with their goblin prisoner, decide to bring him to Winterhaven for questioning. The party returns to Winterhaven and, after news of their deeds at the Shadowfell keep spreads, are met with a hero's welcome. After a quick debrief and a handoff of the prisoner, a feast is held in the heroes' honor, with the majority of the village in attendance. After sleeping off the effects of the previous night's festivities, the adventurers have the opportunity to inform Lord Padraig of the potential slave trade activity that has been occurring in the area, which would help explain some recent disappearances in the area surrounding Winterhaven, and all signs are pointing to a not-so-abandoned city below Thunderspire Mountain. Valthrun the Prescient provides more information to the adventurers, revealing the history of an ancient Minotaur city beneath the Thunderspire mountain and rumors of new and powerful tenants....